This is probably the worst gig I've been to.
Ghast claim to play down-tempo Black Metal influenced by "Northern Doom"...What?
What I heard was a very tired, uninspired set of toilet. It dragged on and on and on, with no real highlight or climax to any song, just a boring wave of gunk.
Daemonolith....five people on stage, five people failing to produce what they claim is "True Black Metal"...They made the
biggest mistake of the night, whilst I was losing myself to the DJ playing Gypsy covered by Emperor, they thought it would be a good idea to ruin this by sound checking..So a quick prayer to
Xul and hey presto, their music turned into dull(again uninspired) recycled garbage which might have sounded OK if I was gay and dead.
I
boo'ed them.
Onto Permafrost who I was looking forward to seeing, them being slightly demented(Which helped the nights events)....I noticed something strange straight away....I didn't pay too much attention to it, but it seemed to me that the vocalist changed during
the 1st or 2
nd song, I wasn't paying too much attention as there was some trollish man talking to me and trying to destroy my face with his dung-breath, all trolls must have naturally shitty smelling breath, which is fine by me, just not whilst I'm feeding beer down my throat as it will most likely make me gag, which it did.
So I thought
OK Permafrost are being silly and German, the right vocalist was on now, bandaging up his bicep, he had a few bandages on, which I thought to be his stage get up, as they were all sporting 'half corpse-paint' someone forgot to bring the white paint it would appear.
So I walked out for a cigarette and started talking to some cougar when all of a sudden the whole of Permafrost come bundling out of the doors and start screaming for an ambulance...it would appear the vocalist didn't practice "Safe Self Harm" and was bleeding all over the place..I hope he died.
So upon going back in, there was a
mish mash of morons on stage playing bullshit and behold
Dimmu Borgir playing over the speakers! Oh this was such a good night!
Troll guy is now telling me that when he sees people with shaved heads like myself, he thinks of Nazi's, which was fine by me, as when I see fat
middle aged men with shit-breath I tend to think "Cunt".
Besatt take to the stage, and jump into what must have been one of their more modern songs, because it flowed past me without even noticing...they then played
Baphomet from
Hellstorm, which wasn't a terrible album, until I changed my mind and said, yes this is terrible, I'm going to leave and get a kebab.
Which myself and friend did.
It was spectacular, the
chilli sauce was excellent, and I felt almost reluctant to return, but I did...Some fat kid with his dads beard on was very excited about the prospect of being at the gig that Permafrost nearly "died" or did, who cares, I haven't got time for Dead Mark II, not unless he's going to blow his brains out.
Besatt rolled on, I dreamed of darker days and it was over. During this whole evening, I tried taking a shit in a tissue covered hand several times in order to create art in the restrooms, but nothing happened, all I got was a brown/yellow stained tissue. Sums up the gig really, BROWN/YELLOW STAINED, AND TOILET.
Keeping up with the French vibe that's been shown recently here at Xul, LDM deliver more Cyber Black Metal in a very pleasing way. Needless to say these fellows take drugs, have sex with low class hookers, and attend Hard-House raves seeking doped up females to take into dark corners and finger with feces stained digits.
Need the people next door to move out? 
Arkhon Infaustus started off on the right path but to my ear, they just weren't what they could have been. No fear though, Xul presents what is probably their finest work, you're given Orthodox Black Metal of the highest order here, 49 minutes oF thick and ugly fury, all controlled most likely by some form of drug addiction. The production on this release is first class allowing the abuse and khaos to flow like lumpy beef-vomit into your ears.
Alright, hear us out here... This is rap. This is the ugliest rap I've heard and pisses all over the grind nerd shock value. While some may question just what the hell Xul is doing here, we assure you that the force is strong with this one. This guy has definitely spent time with his horror and gore music. In addition, the story behind the project is quite hilarious, but we'll let you dig to find that. Have faith Xul legions, this one is worth your time.
John Rambo could track anyone - or anything - on earth. Now the military desperately needs him for a mission that his ultrasensitive instincts tell him he should refuse. A beast is loose somewhere north of the Artic Circle. It has already decimated a secret research facility and annihilated a squad of elite military guards. And the raging creature is headed south toward civilization, ready to wreak bloody devastation.It's a job that Rambo and his 22-year-old hunting partner, Beau Brady, can't turn down, but they and a team of highly-skilled special forces kill team discover that the prey is a terror beyond their wildest imagination - a half-human abomination created by a renegade agency through a series of outlawed genetic experiments. It has man's cunning, a predator's savageness, and a prehistoric power that has transcended the ages. And even if Rambo and Beau survive its unrelenting hunger for human blood, they'll still have to confront the grim reality that it may have grown immortal...
For followers of Orthodox Black Metal.
Hatesville, the word itself just kinda puts you in that mood... One of the non metal offerings from Xul that just kinda have to be heard to truly be appreciated. Containing an infamous cast of characters (Boyd Rice, Jim Goad, Adam Parfrey and Sean Partridge), it remains an inspiration for the counter-culture generation. Face it, crude humor about hate just rules, ya dig? So make a cocktail, fluff up your pillows. Sit back, relax and hate.
Abigail, Japan's answer to the Watts riots... An entertaining old school approach to black metal. Take 1 part Venom, 1 part German thrash, 1 part Godzilla and add and a touch of dirty street punk on meth and set the blender to liquefy. You'll be speaking in broken engrish for days.
The Key, because we're in a sci fi mood lately here at XUL we decide to unload this classic slab of even more classic death metal atcha. We could tell you the usual dull "Pioneering band with use of keyboards, they had a lot of leads and Mike Browning of Morbid Angel fame was in them until they had internal conflicts and blah blah blah", but that's too easy and amateur. What you really need to know is that there is a multi-song theme of CAPTURING INVADING ROBOTS TO BUILD A TIME MACHINE TO GO BACK IN TIME AND KILL BABY JESUS IN ORDER TO FORM AN EMPIRE TO AWAIT THE FUTURE INVASION.
Truly demented work of dark metal genius from Bethlehem... One of the other of the holy trinity that created the depressive bm subculture (Manes, Bethlehem and Burzum), this sounded like nothing else at the time. To this day they still possess one of the greatest guitar tones in metal history. Marco from Deinonychus provided the vocals for this album and it is a match made in hell. This album was recently repacked with the guy from Shining on vocals, don't bother. Don't taint the pure experience of SUIZID as it is meant to be heard.
Fukk everything you think you know about the origins of black metal if you don't know this album. Seriously, if this is your first time seeing this album cover and you consider yourself a "black metal fan", then go stick a shotgun in your face and make like Dead.
Italian industrial black metal... A band that took the influences of prior bands and made some of the first strides into turning the genre from a curiosity into a world of its own. Their best work and by far one of the most haunting albums of its time. It still stands up to this day, which is the true mark of excellence. 
One of the best releases this year so far, a very welcome return.
